Rubicon

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What to expect

'The book that really held me, in fact, obsessed me, was Rubicon . . . This is narrative history at its best. Bloody and labyrinthine political intrigue and struggle, brilliant oratory, amazing feats of conquest and cruelty' Ian McEwan, Books of the Year, Guardian

'Re-evaluating Rome for a new generation' Robert Harris, Sunday Times

'Marvellously readable' Niall Ferguson

The Roman Republic was the most remarkable state in history. What began as a small community of peasants camped among marshes and hills ended up ruling the known world. Rubicon paints a vivid portrait of the Republic at the climax of its greatness - the same greatness which would herald the catastrophe of its fall.
It is a story of incomparable drama. This was the century of Julius Caesar, the gambler whose addiction to glory led him to the banks of the Rubicon, and beyond; of Cicero, whose defence of freedom would make him a byword for eloquence; of Spartacus, the slave who dared to challenge a superpower; of Cleopatra, the queen who did the same.

Tom Holland brings to life this strange and unsettling civilization, with its extremes of ambition and self-sacrifice, bloodshed and desire. Yet alien as it was, the Republic still holds up a mirror to us. Its citizens were obsessed by celebrity chefs, all-night dancing and exotic pets; they fought elections in law courts and were addicted to spin; they toppled foreign tyrants in the name of self-defence. Two thousand years may have passed, but we remain the Romans' heirs.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2004 SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2003 HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR AT THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS

Critics Review

  • Tom Holland’s excellent new study of the fall of the Republic… re-evaluating Rome for a new generation

    Sunday Times

  • This is the best one-volume narrative history of the Rome between King Tarquin and Emperor Augustus I have ever read. The story of Rome’s experiment with republicanism – peopled by such giants as Caesar, Pompey, Cato and Cicero – is told with perfect freshness, fine wit and true scholarship.

    Andrew Roberts

  • Holland has the rare gift of making deep scholarship accessible and exciting. A brilliant and completely absorbing study

    A.N Wilson, author of The Victorians

  • The only way to kindle the interest of a new generation in the Greek and Roman world… Holland paints a vivid social portrait of the Roman World

    Sunday Telegraph

  • A modern, well-paced and finely observed history which entertains as it informs.

    Observer

  • Explosive stuff…a seriously intelligent history… [written] with elan and gusto… It is a history for our times… Wickedly enjoyable.

    Peter Jones, BBC History Magazine

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